Opening day!!
Connecticut
Opening day is just a few days away. Who's got plans to head out for the opener? And anything different this year or same ol same ol?
I'll be at a location I haven't hunted in eleven years. Went there Saturday and cleared a few shooting lanes and installed a camera. I have company this time since I found two ladder stands forty yards either side of my tree. I also chose another tree sixty yards from one of the ladder stands.
Same ol same ol same, the exception being is my kid will be in my stand and I'll be close by.
Out sat and Sunday at one place. Place is good for first few days then new neighbors over hunt and ride dirt bikes and quads thru area and blow out all deer. After first few weeks it's a write off. A shame because I could count on steady activity all season at the place before they moved in.
I'll be out. Won't know where I'll hunt until I check cameras Friday.
I haven't done anything yet except shoot my bow, will have to wait till Dave tells me were to go ,LOL
There Ya go Steve.. let the youngster do all the scouting and give you the best spots.. I like it!!
Can't get out 'til Monday and it looks to be in the 80's and clear as of now.. might wait for another low pressure system to roll through to get in undetected and wait for movement.. or hunt some secondary spots. Too bad this current system didn't occur next week.
Not going out till next week, will do the usual still hunt around my stand locations, clear any debris for the walk in, look for sign. No serious hunting till mid Oct when the weather is a lot cooler. Good luck to everyone.
I’ll be out just not sure if gonna hunt morning or evening or both yet
I've seen a ton of deer movement lately. Eating on the sides of the roads and at one of my properties I maintain. Always on there feet eating especially in the mornings
Bow is sighted in and ready. Gonna try to get out both Sat and Sun evening. I don't hunt the mornings much until later in the season when they start acting a little rutty.
I'll be out both weekend mornings and nights. Cant wait!!!
I'm on vacation starting Saturday so I'll be hunting and fishing hopefully.
Gonna be a game time decision, but right now its looking like I may sit on the bench for another week. 80 degrees? I don't want to let my excitement get the best of me and then go in, sweating all over the place and risking blowing my chances for the same spot later in the season. Too bad this past weekend wasn't the opener.
Will miss first 2-3 weeks. Wish it was a choice. Retina detached, surgery pending. Newfie moose hunt planned.....50-50 chance of going. At least it happened while it's warm. Plenty of season waiting for me. Good luck to the rest of you.
Brian, I had my right eye ( peep sight eye) done 2 yrs ago..I went in for an exam next thing I know the Dr is doing a Luke Skywalker on my eye...it was no biggie..the worst part was getting used to those creepy little string things in my perrifial vision..kinda like doing illecent stuff all night ,being paranoid and jumpy...lol they go away over time
I might go out as a symbolic thing..its hard enough gutting and butchering let alone swating flies and yellow jackets
Notme That a sign your getting old .! LOL
Yes yes this is true..lol
I'm planning on going out both days at my house (Sherman) for a morning and evening sit. The weather will be hot so smell is a concern, but we NEVER get easterly winds and we are supposed to this weekend, which is ideal for all three of my tree stands. New for this year is a 2-man ladder stand with a roof/blind on it that I'm saving for later in the season, but I'll gladly hunt my bait pile stand this weekend. I've been pushing the bears off my land the last few weeks so I'm not too worried about spooking off the swamp donkeys.
Hoping to go saturday. A bit time pressed this year so pretty much any chance to go, Ill go. Outside solid rain, dont like the potential to lose a blood trail in those conditions.
HAHAHA. I remember notme's spots. Topic of discussion for a while.
Brendan not trying to criticize but if you know we never or very rarely get an East wind why would you set up one, let alone all three of your stands for that wind direction?
Can you kindly tell me where they're at..I seem to have misplaced them...lol
Brian M - best wishes for a speedy recovery. Or as Notme stated, may the force be with you!
Best of luck out there this weekend boys!!
Longbeard, here is a long explanation: The stands are not purposely set up for an easterly wind direction; any wind direction is usually fine for me except a strong southwest or any direct west wind. I'm hunting my land (about 5-6 acres) that is a combination of the bottom of a valley's hill and a swamp, which leads into a clear-cut field (not mine). The problem is that I can only enter my hunting grounds from the west with only 75 yards or so of north/south movement until I get into the swamp, so all three of my stands are staggered in a (somewhat) line north to south and I choose which one I want to hunt based heavily on wind direction. A easterly wind means I do not have to worry so much about scenting down, throwing a dip in, etc. Also, I can hunt whatever stand I want and take a straight line towards it rather than doing a walk-around. If only I could access my land from the east... but I am lucky to be able to walk out of my basement and go into the woods so I will not complain.
I will probably go out for the evening, waking up early every Saturday...I am not ready for that yet.
Hello all, I've been lurking the site for the past month and this seems like a good thread to introduce myself. This opening day will be my first deer hunting season since 2010 (college and career took over for a while). I just moved to the Burlington area and I'm very excited and to hunt near by.
PS: I read through some of the other threads particularly the new hunter ones, seems like a great community going on here with some good info so thanks for that!
New guy here from southeast corner. Will be out on private land sat and sun all day hoping to see this guy
Is that deer standing on the steep side of a slippery slope..lol
Rain Monday night through Tuesday am, hopefully. Good opportunity to get in undetected and not smell.
Just got bow back from string replacement, need to re-sight it in, and need a minor peep adjustment. Busy this weekend but have next week off, so will plan on getting out some time Thursday depending on the weather. Seen a lot of activity, had a Doe, Fawn and Spike in the back yard last night.
All the best guys. I'll be sharing the woods with my 12 year old son tomorrow. It's a gift to watch him learn about life through the hunt. This is my yearly post...enjoy for those who've never read it.
The Call of Orion (C) by Dana Charbonneau
It's been said that civilization is only a thin veneer over the more primitive nature of Man. That we are driven at times by deep instincts. As the summer wanes, I know this to be true.
Every morning my routine is the same, rise early, get the newspaper, have coffee. Every morning from Labor Day on, returning up the drive with the paper, I lift my eyes to the sky. There he is, the Hunter of ancient mythology, Orion, in his eternal chase across the Southern heavens. Every morning, a little more of that civilized veneer slips away from me, and I long to be back in the woods.
I go to work, fighting the city traffic to reach the old brick factory. I use heavy machines and computer terminals to earn my living. My mind, though, wanders along forest paths in the Berkshires and the Taconics. I'm never far from a hunting magazine or catalog. If I close my eyes I can see the light of dawn filtering through autumn leaves, smell the pines around my stand, hear the honking of geese winging south overhead. I long, not to push levers and buttons, but to pull back on a bowstring. I yearn for that moment when the arm is drawn back, that instant of supreme tension before the release. I want to feel once more that trembling mix of concentration and elation that only the moment of truth provides. I want to step back into that earlier time when making a living and hunting intertwined, when man lived closer to the land and his myths. I want to join Orion in the hunt.
Perhaps new myths will be made this Fall. A new hunter will draw first blood. A new stand will be given a name. A new weapon will join ranks with the bows of Hercules and Robin Hood, Old Betsy, the knife Jim Bowie carried to the Alamo.
After days in the woods, we will sit around campfires and lanterns, retelling stories of hunts that become more heroic in retrospect. The hunt for a buck will become a saga. Our failures will provide comic relief. The occasional triumph will inspire novice and veteran alike.
The animals we hunt will assume their own mythic proportions. Their senses will grow sharper, their hoofprints wider and deeper, their cunning supernatural, their antlers enormous. Alive they will enchant and bewilder us. In death their beauty and dignity will force us to look into our very souls.
We hunters are close kin to those earlier people, who looked up into the night sky and named the stars for their mightiest hunters, their heroes and their gods. They surely felt the beauty of the woods, the prey, and the arrow that flies true. They felt the hope, anticipation, triumph and sorrow, and the call of the red gods to join the chase. We feel it too. Orion summons us.
All the best guys. I'll be sharing the woods with my 12 year old son tomorrow. It's a gift to watch him learn about life through the hunt. This is my yearly post...enjoy for those who've never read it.
The Call of Orion (C) by Dana Charbonneau
It's been said that civilization is only a thin veneer over the more primitive nature of Man. That we are driven at times by deep instincts. As the summer wanes, I know this to be true.
Every morning my routine is the same, rise early, get the newspaper, have coffee. Every morning from Labor Day on, returning up the drive with the paper, I lift my eyes to the sky. There he is, the Hunter of ancient mythology, Orion, in his eternal chase across the Southern heavens. Every morning, a little more of that civilized veneer slips away from me, and I long to be back in the woods.
I go to work, fighting the city traffic to reach the old brick factory. I use heavy machines and computer terminals to earn my living. My mind, though, wanders along forest paths in the Berkshires and the Taconics. I'm never far from a hunting magazine or catalog. If I close my eyes I can see the light of dawn filtering through autumn leaves, smell the pines around my stand, hear the honking of geese winging south overhead. I long, not to push levers and buttons, but to pull back on a bowstring. I yearn for that moment when the arm is drawn back, that instant of supreme tension before the release. I want to feel once more that trembling mix of concentration and elation that only the moment of truth provides. I want to step back into that earlier time when making a living and hunting intertwined, when man lived closer to the land and his myths. I want to join Orion in the hunt.
Perhaps new myths will be made this Fall. A new hunter will draw first blood. A new stand will be given a name. A new weapon will join ranks with the bows of Hercules and Robin Hood, Old Betsy, the knife Jim Bowie carried to the Alamo.
After days in the woods, we will sit around campfires and lanterns, retelling stories of hunts that become more heroic in retrospect. The hunt for a buck will become a saga. Our failures will provide comic relief. The occasional triumph will inspire novice and veteran alike.
The animals we hunt will assume their own mythic proportions. Their senses will grow sharper, their hoofprints wider and deeper, their cunning supernatural, their antlers enormous. Alive they will enchant and bewilder us. In death their beauty and dignity will force us to look into our very souls.
We hunters are close kin to those earlier people, who looked up into the night sky and named the stars for their mightiest hunters, their heroes and their gods. They surely felt the beauty of the woods, the prey, and the arrow that flies true. They felt the hope, anticipation, triumph and sorrow, and the call of the red gods to join the chase. We feel it too. Orion summons us.
My bad on the double post.
Nothing for me until Wednesday morning. Got a part time job at Lowes since retirement is way too boring for me. Every small job around the house that needed to be done is complete, even some that didn't need to get done.
Going out all day.... well AM then PM of course....got some mowing to do.....
I’m seeing NE wind tomorrow morning here near the shore. Not too typical.
